Distortion Cranks Out '50s Rock With A '90s Twist

July 30, 1992|By ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic

In a digital age where music is often broken by MTV satellite feeds, it's surprising -- and heartening -- to hear a couple of bands whose music returns to the original sparks of rock 'n' roll from the 1950s for inspiration.

Social Distortion had its beginnings in the Los Angeles punk scene of the late '70s, but Mike Ness takes more than his perfectly coiffed ducktails and sideburns from the '50s era.

The power he entrusts in his electric guitar, and the spirit of his charged delivery (as well as a few of his stage moves) can be traced in a direct line back to the days of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.

The Rev. Horton Heat's inspiration is even more direct -- in cat clothes as well as slicked-back hair and sideburns, he unabashedly rekindles the firestorm of '50s rockabilly, throwing in some surf twang and punk spirit.

Most had packed into Toad's Place in New Haven Tuesday night to hear Social Distortion, who had last been in the state as an opening act for Neil Young last year at the Hartford Civic Center.

The occasion brought out those hardy purveyors of cool who come out in their leather jackets even on the most steamy summer nights, but also a lot of cloth-capped youngsters who were barely in grade school during the band's original incarnation.

"A lot of people think we're an upand-coming new thing," Ness said as the band began to crank up Tuesday. "But we've been around."

And he's got the tattoos to prove it.

Snaking up his pumped-up arms and darting out of his white undershirt, Ness looks like he's been to the same parlor that served Max Cady in "Cape Fear."

But this is no coy rockabilly copy, as, say, the Stray Cats were once marketed (with similar tattoos). With the rest of the band merely thrashing on almost anonymously behind him (in slicked-back hair and black clothes), Ness is clearly the star here.

A short guy who's spent some time in the gym, he coils himself over his guitar, dipping almost out of sight when he plays lead solos. His vocal delivery is a strained, all-out, completely convincing rant on stories of jail and murder and romantic

retribution.

He showed his inspiration for such subject matter in one of the few cover songs -- Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire."

But he also showed he wasn't quite aware how far his band has come with its new album already by playing the recent radio hit "Bad Luck" just three songs into the show.

There was power and grit in the performance; and to recall the punk days, he'd characteristically let out a big spray of spit during the pause before a song's final climax.

Still, the sameness of the songs tended to make the show a little dull at the end of its hour. The three-song encore didn't revive interest much, although it included the band's first single, "1945," and a cover of Ersel Hickey's classic rockabilly tune "Shame on Me."

Rockabilly got a more direct boost from the Rev. Horton Heat, the name of the singer/guitarist and the Texas band. Starting with a couple of instrumentals that swerved from '50s twang to surf-side vibrato, he was matched with a great drummer in Patrick Bentley and a stand-up slap bassist, Jim Wallace, who just stopped short of Stray Cats' cute antics. The band careened down its own road of original tunes with an eye to traditions they were furthering.

Social Distortion, the Rev. Horton Heat and Paw play the Sting nightclub in New Britain, tonight at 9. Tickets are $12. For more information, call 225-2154